The Box: Movie Review

Based on the classic short story, “Button, Button” by Richard Matheson, writer/director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) brings us The Box, which asks the question, what would you be willing to sacrifice for a million dollars? Between this and The Fourth Kind, this weekend’s box office should empty the pockets of sci-fi fans nation wide.

Check out the review below…

The Players

Synopsis:

The year is 1976, and life in the suburbs is about as anti-climactic as feeding a fish. Norma Lewis (Diaz) a teacher at a private high school and her husband Arthur (Marsden) a NASA engineer live an average life with their son, until a lube-job with a hole in his face (Langella) shows up at their doorstep with an intriguing proposition: The Box. Press the button on the box, and you are immediately presented with 1 million dollars – at the expense of 1 human life. The burning question: press it and spend the rest of your life as a guilt-ridden degenerate? This is America, money talks, baby.

The Good:

Concept: “At the heart of ‘The Box’ is moral dilemma” says Richard Kelly. Concurred. The decision at hand for the Lewis family is a tough one – Arthur has been demoted, Norma needs surgery, etc. How often is one million dollars sitting on your kitchen table? A random, unrelated person will die, but your problems are solved. It’s optimistic to assume that the inhabitants of a universe driven by materialism wouldn’t at least mull over the proposition.

Temptation: Norma presses the button only to instantly regret her move.Humans have an indispensable desire for immediate satisfaction that oftentimes breeds impulsive behavior. Sadly, we don’t spend enough time considering the ramifications. The Box is a heightened, but well projected demonstration of this reality – challenging both the film’s characters and the audience with questions of self-sacrifice and redemption.

Structure: The story unravels itself quite inventively.While initially there are a lot of vague scenes and random cutting around, gradually, everything becomes accounted for. Every bit of tape presents a needed piece of information about this mysterious box. Once the story takes off, the rush of suspense and the desire to put the pieces together captures the audience until the credits roll.

Message: If we can’t prioritize the good of mankind before our individual needs, the demise of the human race is right around the corner. Enough said.

The Bad:

Cameron Diaz: I’m constantly asking myself how it is that Diaz tricks casting directors into giving her roles. She barely demonstrated a morsel of honesty in her performance. And her massively exaggerated Southern dialect (while no one else in the cast had more than a subtle twang) deflected all believability.The tears, the quizzical brow, the scowls of horror (!), were all hilarious – so hilarious, in fact, it was easy to forget how many people were dying and how high the steaks actually were. Not good.

Overall:

The Box was not bad, not bad at all. Even for those of us who aren’t sci-fi fans, this movie provokes much thought and definitely had me in a bit of a mental zone for a solid hour after seeing it.

The only thing that this movie made me stop and consider was why in gods name I just wasted both $13 and 2 hours of my life. Sure, you could come away from the movie internally debating the outlined moral dilemma, but that's if you can first wrap your head around a plot with no semblance of structure and a completely nonsensical, random progression. There was nothing in this piece of garbage that held my attention and even if there was there was a completely unrelated scene coming up in about 7 seconds. The movie was all over the place. This was the worst movie I have seen in the past 10 years hands down.

John-Bob

The steaks were high? I guess the cows died happy.

Nice review, I agree with most of it. But I feel like the movie lacked something, what I can't really put my finger on.

DanoC

Horrible review. I went to the movie and it was awful. Why can't reviewers just tell the truth and not let the hype about the "concept" and the participants in the producton influence them. There was not much good about this movie (actually the acting was not bad including Cameron Diaz) and all the sites that allow comments have the majority of commentors giving a thumbs down. The execution of the plot was confusing and unfulfilling and the pace made one want to leave before the end. I understand that enjoying a movie is subjective but the flaws in this movie and the awful slow pace should have anyone with a little decernment troubled.

_CJ_

I enjoyed the movie, but then again, I do enjoy the "mind-twist" type of films. It was quite confusing, I will admit, and even a bit slow at times, but overall I really liked it. The story line was original and thought provoking (though even the commercials instigated the "what would YOU do if…" conversations) and I thought the acting was just fine.

Can anyone help me clarify the very last scene though please? Who was standing with the son upstairs and who was the man we saw The Box? My friend and I saw different things!! Help!

Twisted Halo76

Of course all movies will lack something, but this movie certainly "grabs you". I don't particularly care for how it ended, but over all it is truly awesome! The trailer doesn't do it's justice. You're hanging on wanting more throughout the entire movie. I'd pay to see it again & again, & again…. It also makes you realize certain things in life and think deeper (unless you're the heartless type). If I had to choose only 2 words to describe THE BOX, I'd stick with…F**KING BRILLIANT!!

Anonymous

45 Mins into the movie 'BORNING!' story line sucks

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After watching the trailer i thought i have to see this film. But after reading the comments i started to change my mind. I think i will give a chance to this movie despite of your opinions.